Sons of Beasts

Ice

3 more chapters after this one and part one is over. Part 2-4 (which will all be one story, just in different chunks) has a completely different feel. Hope you look forward to it! Enjoy~

"Luffy, you have to stay here, okay? We won't be gone long, promise. We're both going to go. You have to stay up here," Ace said kindly as Sabo climbed down the rope ladder. Luffy was only four, Ace and Sabo ten, and they still didn't want him to meet with other humans. Especially those in high town, which was where they were going after selling the crocodile skin. They rarely used their treasure stash to buy things. That was for their pirate ship and supplies.

They had agreed not to long ago that they'd set off at seventeen, though Luffy would be eleven. So they had seven more years to collect more treasure and riches. They'd move the stash multiple times for safety if someone followed them to the tree. They caused a lot of trouble down in Gray Terminal, beating up the residents for money.

Ace had gotten so good at his fire powers that he could summon fire walls, something he'd been working on for months. So, when guards or angry citizens chased after them, they got trapped behind a firewall that didn't disappear until they put it out with a large amount of water.

He hadn't burned Gray Terminal to the ground from his fire, since it could happen easily. Once he made his point to not be messed with, he made the fire not burn its surroundings. Everyone began to fear the boy. Which was convenient for the brothers.

They were going into town to get a thick blanket for Luffy, for he had complained about being cold all the time, even though it wasn't cold yet. It had concerned both boys, but they couldn't exactly take Luffy to the doctor's. So they did their best to warm him up, giving him warm drinks and trying to give him body heat during the night. His thick skin was also getting cold.

When Ace and Sabo left, Luffy laid down on the floor of their home, pouting for awhile. Time was going slow for him. He didn't like being separated from his brothers. It made him uneasy. And he was cold again, shivering even in the warm sunlight streaming through the treehouse gaps between walls.

The dragon was shivering stronger than he ever had. Puffs of white were coming out of his nostrils when he breathed, making his nose tingle. Was this normal? It was tickling his nose badly, and he tried holding in a sneeze, but he couldn't and sneezed, and suddenly trees across the clearing were impaled with ice from his mouth.

One tree fell over completely, severed in half by the cold spikes. Luffy just stared at it blankly for a moment, not sure as to what happened. But when he sneezed a second time, more spikes riddled the ground against the treeline. He shrieked loudly, birds flying from the trees that hadn't been impaled. He began to run around the treehouse, thoroughly unnerved by what happened.

ACE! ACE, SABO!

-x-

Ace and Sabo hurried back to the entrance of Edge Town, Ace thoroughly confused with Sabo's reaction to a pompous looking man that had seemed to recognize the blonde. They had the quilt, which was a lot of money. But, then again, the store owner might just be afraid of Ace burning the shop down. So they got a good discount.

No one followed them, not the man or any guards or police. The people of Edge Town left them alone as well. They maneuvered their way through the trash mountains and ran back to their treehouse. Neither was comfortable with leaving Luffy alone too long.

Ace was about to ask Sabo what was up with the noble man, before there was a loud shriek, followed by birds fleeing into the sky. Then Ace heard screaming in his head, and gasped, now sprinting as fast as he possibly could.

But what the boys saw stopped them in their tracks. Part of the training area was decimated with spikes of crystal it seemed. Though Sabo felt it was cold when he hurried over to inspect. "It's ice!"